Drone and Drabble
by HoTpInKaNdBlAcK
Summary: Sandy knew. Kirsten knew. Caleb, albeit reluctantly, knew. Their on-again-off-again girlfriends couldn’t deny it, and Zack… well, Zack knows more than anyone. So why can’t the two lovebirds see what’s right in front of them? SethRyan
1. Default Chapter

Drone and Drabble

* * *

Sandy knew. Kirsten knew. Caleb, albeit reluctantly, knew. Their on-again-off-again girlfriends couldn't deny it, and Zack… well, Zack knows more than anyone. So why can't the two lovebirds see what's right in front of them? Seth/Ryan

* * *

Zack 

"Cohen, the next time you mention the name Ryan, I am going to wring your fragile neck."

Supportive, I know. But really, can't the guy get a clue about what's going on? Everybody knows that they have that whole 'undeniable' thing going for them. So for the millionth time I ask myself… What's stopping them?

"Come on, Zack, I know. I ramble. You should be used to it by now. Comes with the whole Cohen package…"

I put my head in my hands and groan. We are once again sitting in his room, him blankly staring at the ceiling, sitting upright against the wall. His legs are stretched out in front of him with forgotten comic pages lying strewn among the likes of Cokes, chips, and Captain Oats. I, for one, am sitting on the foot of his bed, trying to steer his attention back to the comic b—sorry, no, GRAPHIC NOVEL, at hand.

Let's just say I try, and fail miserably.

"… Dude, the thing is, that I CAN'T stop thinking about him. Which, in turn, means that I can't stop talking about him. See, I have this problem with separating thoughts from actual speech—"

"Really?" I ask sarcastically, shaking my head.

"Yes!…" he exclaims, either not noticing or completely ignoring the mocking tone of my voice "…And that becomes an issue when I'm around him, because it takes all my willpower, very low might I add, to stop myself from reiterating my thoughts into the endless drabble that is Seth Cohen… I have to resort to talking about Summer, which seems to be starting to really bug him. Don't know why… It's probably because the chances of Seth-Summer are next to nil, and he wants me to like, move onto greener pastures or something, I don't know."

That makes me laugh. For what reason is unknown to me, but… Cohen does that. I guess it's the rapid hand movements that go along with that 'endless drabble.' He mock-glares at me and I once again shake my head, realizing that he's done and wants me to say something to help him.

"Look, have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, in some kind of miracle, Ryan ACTUALLY thinks of you just as much? Pines like you do? Relentlessly drones about how you're so witty and fun and, don't get me wrong, adorable?"

He looks at me like I just said that Lysander was really after Demetrius.

"I don't know. Perhaps it's because nobody ever thinks of Seth Cohen that way? In my seventeen years of life, I've dated two people, at the same time at one point if it counts for anything. Look where that got me…emotionally, and even more so physically, scarred… Not to mention alone."

He picked up Captain Oats and started mumbling something incoherent that I have a feeling was about my inability to understand his mindset on the issue.

I looked at the clock and realized I had to meet the topic of Seth's rants at the pier in half an hour. I took a wary glance at Cohen, who had gone back to staring aimlessly upward.

"Dude I have to go. Captain Oats is here for any further support."

"Yes… always Captain Oats…"

I sigh and go out the door, leaving Seth to some alone time with the best listener in the universe.

* * *

As soon as I walk up the ramp, I spot Ryan sitting on the deck, staring out into the water, his eyes following a boat that bears a strong resemblance to Seth's. 

Why do I get the feeling that's what he's thinking?

He glances back at me when he hears my footsteps and smiles briefly.

"Hey man." He says simply, his eyes wandering back to the craft. I stay in silence for a few moments before talking.

"What are you thinking about now?" I ask, disturbed by the silence so soon after having none in Cohen's world.

"Just thinking about when Seth sailed away last summer. I know I wasn't here to see him or even try to stop him…" He trailed off and started watching again, not bothering to finish, not that he really needed to.

"Well… he's back now." I say simply, not really knowing how to respond otherwise. He smiles and nods slowly.

"Yeah… and things are finally back how they should be. The Fantastic Four…" he glances up at me and cocks his head, "Correction, five, are at it with a forcefulness that last year would have been blown away with. Completely unbreakable, how it should be."

I chuckle and sit down beside him, "Do you have any idea how much you just emulated Cohen? I feel like he's here now." I glance behind my back. "He's not is he?"

Ryan shrugs his shoulders and leans back on his his elbows.

"Probably not. Knowing him, he's plotting a suspenseful and thrilling way to weave his way back into Summer's love life." Ryan's chipper-as-Ryan-can-get vibe was immediately cast aside, replaced with the brooding that is usually in place when Summer is mentioned outside of everyday group dynamic.

"Dude, I can honestly tell you that he is not even thinking about Summer right now." I give him a half smile and stand up, turning to make my way home. "Trust me, man."

All Ryan can do is watch Zack's retreating back, wondering how the hell the guy can be so sure of himself when it comes to others' problems.

* * *

Well, that's the first chapter. I liked Zack when he was all sweet and stuff, so I'm totally disregarding anything in the season I felt 'bleh' about. This is meant to be a fun story and it will be. 

Just one review will keep me going (since I'm actually interested in the fic!)


	2. Psychobabble

Drone and Drabble

* * *

Sandy knew. Kirsten knew. Caleb, albeit reluctantly, knew. Their on-again-off-again girlfriends couldn't deny it, and Zack… well, Zack knows more than anyone. So why can't the two lovebirds see what's right in front of them? Seth/Ryan

* * *

_Kirsten_

"Hello my darling wife."

I smile and turn around to Sandy, who wraps me up in one of those "I don't have to be in work until 8" kisses. I laugh lightly and put my hand to his chest, subtly pushing him away.

"My father has me working on a huge estate for the Ramsey's. I have to be to work in 45 minutes." I say, turning back to my coffee. I feel his arms wrap around me.

"Like that will stop me."

I'm about to give in when Seth comes into the kitchen, making his way to the cupboard without looking up.

"Quasi-virgin eyes here, parents. Please desist all old people love… now."

I love my son dearly, but truly…

"Seth, you've walked into a much worse situa—"

"Mom! Please! Don't remind me! I have tried to block that out of my memory for years. Thanks a million." He dramatically shudders and twitches, probably reliving that night when he was a mere 8 years old.

"Well, Seth, to get off this completely uncomfortable topic, what plans do you have for tonight?" Sandy asks.

"Thank you father. I was planning on getting immersed in the powerful pull of Playstation in the pool house." Seth looks confused at his sentencing, what with all the P's, but apparently he shrugged it off. He didn't notice the knowing look that was passed between Sandy and I.

"How have things been with Ryan? Anything interesting going on with you two?" I ask, as nonchalant as possible. Seth almost chokes on his coffee and slams his mug down on the counter.

"What? No... Nothing weird or awkward happening… I mean, yeah normal, totally normal. I have no clue what you're talking about. Gotta get dressed… yes, leaving."

He quickly disappears from the room, just as Ryan makes his way inside and to the coffee pot.

"Morning," is all he says, pulling out the cereal and pouring himself a bowl.

"Good morning sunshine." Sandy muses, ruffling Ryan's hair on his way out of the kitchen. It leaves Ryan and I alone in a comfortable silence.

"Oh yeah, I was about to tell Seth before he scampered off that we have a party with the noopsies over at Julie and my father's tonight. Black tie, nothing out of the ordinary."

"Sounds like fun."

"Yes, because events with Julie Cooper- Nichol are always a blast." I put my mug in the sink and smile at Ryan.

"Will Marissa be there?" He asks, peering at me with those questioning eyes.

"Most likely. You know how her mother is with these things. But… as long as Summer is there, Marissa will probably be willing." I can see Ryan deflate at the mention of Summer, and inside I smile at his antics. Poor thing.

"Mother dearest, why must we go to another soul-sucking life-threatening night with the wrath of Julie Cooper on our lovely behinds?" Seth asks, donning a sweater vest and faded jeans along with a horrified expression.

"You boys haven't gone to one of these parties in a while now. It's about time you get out of the house!"

"I get out of the house. I go over to Zack's…" Seth stops and seems to be thinking, and Ryan grunts out a laugh.

"You go to school with me and you go to the pier alone, and you go sailing half an hour before sunset with anyone that will go with you, or else you go alone." Ryan looks up through his eyelashes at Seth, who stutters his reply, quite uncharacteristically might I add.

"U-Um, y-yeah, what h-he said..." He looks dumbfounded and stares down at his coffee mug, quiet and contemplating from what I can see.

I laugh lightly at the boys and their complete obliviousness to the semblance of… something not so brotherly… that they emit so often. 

"Well, I'll tell you what. Go tonight, and if you get bored, you boys can take the car and come home. Deal?"

The boys seem to sarcastically, heavily consider this before they both agree.

"Be ready at 6:30. It starts at seven."

"Can't wait." Both of them mumbled, before going their separate ways to finish getting ready.

_Zack_

"Dude… Dude I think you might be right about Ryan."

"Good morning to you too Cohen. Now, how did you come to this conclusion after a mere twelve hours?" I ask this amusedly, but I'm still kind of interested.

OK, completely interested.

"This morning, I was talking with him and my mom about the noopsie thing tonight, and my mom said that I don't get out enough, and I was trying to defend myself and failed miserably, and Ryan jumped in and said these things that I totally thought were private, but apparently aren't."

I squeeze my eyes shut and fervently shake my head, trying to analyze the huge jumble of words that just escaped Cohen's mouth.

"Alright, I think I got it... What were these private things?" I ask slowly, trying not to jump to hasty conclusions as he is doing.

"That… That I go to the pier alone after school after Ryan goes wherever he goes, and that every day I go out on my boat to watch the sunset."

I contemplate my wording as I try to let him down easily, which sounds horrible, but really, its not.

"Seth…** I** know you do those things. And I'm not half the friend Ryan is… maybe he just notices these things before he goes off and does his own thing once in a while…" I look at him out of the corner of my eye, and am relieved to see that he seems to understand my reasoning.

"Yeah dude, okay. But it's just the WAY he said just totally blew me away. It was like, so un-Ryan of him. Not gruff or brooding, just… almost like it's etched into his memory what I do everyday."

That I couldn't deny. I've heard his routine recited so many times by Ryan that even I now know it by heart.

I look over Seth's shoulder and do a double take.

"Since when does Ryan have friends outside of our humble group of like, five?" I ask, thoroughly confused at seeing Ryan laughing comfortably with some guy I've never seen before.

Cohen looks confused for a second before slowly looking over his shoulder. He is visibly relieved.

"That's just Luke…" Cohen seems to process the information after a moment and cocks his head… "Hey Luke's back! Come on dude. Let's go say hey." Cohen hurries down the steps, and all I can do is follow.

When we arrive at our destination, Cohen slaps this Luke character on the back, causing the guy to turn around.

"Hey Cohen!" Luke grins at him and turns to me, but directs his question at Seth.

"Who's this?" he asks, with a nod in my direction. I extend my hand.

"What's up? I'm Zack Stevens."

"Oh! Right yeah I've heard about you. I'm Luke Ward."

Something clicks in my mind and I remember who this guy is as we shake hands quickly. Damn… How did I forget that?

"Oh yeah, right. I've heard about you too." Luke winces.

"All good I hope?"

"All good, man," which is the truth, too. He lightens up again.

"Dude, when did you get back? I had no clue you were coming!" Cohen looks from Luke to Ryan, who gives him a clueless look Seth reluctantly draws his attention away from the completely hot look, turning back to Luke.

"Marissa didn't tell you guys?" Luke asked, looking between the three of us.

"No…" I said, at the same time Ryan shook his head and Cohen, being Cohen, said…

"I'm going to go find her… oh wait no here she comes…" He deflates ever so slightly, but I think I'm the only one who notices, "… And Summer…" He extends her name and glances at Ryan, who winces imperceptibly to most eyes before putting on a smile for the girls.

"Hey guys!" Summer seems chipper today… Her eyes land on Luke, and she squeals.

"Luke! What are you doing here?" She pulls him into a tight hug, and suddenly I feel all eyes on me. I look up to see three sets of eyes boring into me… I feel so violated…

I furrow my eyebrows and look from Marissa to Ryan to Seth, who actually looks completely amused. I roll my eyes and shake my head just as Sum pulls off of Luke, who smiles and turns his attention to Marissa, cautiously opening his arms.

Instead of looking hesitant or anything, Marissa looks flat out ecstatic and throws her arms around Luke in, if possible, an even tighter hug.

Jeez… I give them a week to get back together.

"How was Portland after I left dude?" Seth asks, "Completely horrible? Gosh, you must have missed me." Seth looks totally playful, and Luke laughs.

"Dude, for a few days there it was frikkin' quiet for the first time in like, a month or two. No psychobabble ringing in our ears. It was weird." Luke looked, and was, completely serious, and everyone but him and Cohen broke out laughing.

"Did you just call my witty remarks and charming banter psychobabble?"

* * *

OK. End chapter 2, because I totally want to get to my thank-yous. You guys rock so much. I love you! 

Rainygal- I know right? Nice!Zack is so much better than WaterPolo!Zack. Thanks for my first review!

Henka- I love them too! It seems so much more natural, even some people wouldn't think so! Thanks for the R/R!

Ziggybomb- Yes, yes... His meanness seems so foreign after being such an awesome character. Thanks for reviewing!

Feather Moon- Omigosh I love Midsummer's. I was in it too... I was Hippolyta. LoL I imagined my friends Matt (Lysander) and Billy (Demetrius) and I was like, LMAO!

Alienangel19852003- I'll just keep going and going...

Kingess- Yes, first person can get iffy if it's not written well... Thanks for letting me know it's alright! Thankies for the R/R too!

2 reviews for next chapter!  



	3. The Plan

Drone and Drabble

* * *

Sandy knew. Kirsten knew. Caleb, albeit reluctantly, knew. Their on-again-off-again girlfriends couldn't deny it, and Zack… well, Zack knows more than anyone. So why can't the two lovebirds see what's right in front of them? Seth/Ryan 

Chapter 3- "Bleh" and Other Words of Unintelligible Speech when Jealous and/or Confused.

* * *

_Luke_

"So are you coming to the dinner party at my house tonight? It should be fun." Marissa asked me, with no hint of sarcasm whatsoever… Odd.

"What's it for anyways? Anything special, or is your mom in one of her I'm-better-than-you, come-to-my-overly-large-home moods?"

"The latter seems appropriate. She's even gone into mommy-mode and telling me just how pretty I look and how I should wear orange tonight, because it is_ 'so_ flattering on me'…" She looked put-out for a second, before continuing.

"I shouldn't be complaining though. Old habits die hard I suppose. It has been kind of nice lately. We've been spending more time together and she's become less… well, Julie Cooper-ish I guess."

"Wait a minute… did I truly just hear you say that you have been hanging out with your mother… unforced… and without motive?"

We looked up at the source of the comment and saw Seth grinning broadly, pulling out a chair and sitting down happily, tuna melt and Yoo-Hoo in hand.

"Can it, Cohen." Marissa said simply, smiling despite her own comment. Very few could get away with that sarcastic of a comment as Seth did, but I guess that's just Cohen for you. I learned that while he was staying up in Portland. Just go with it, and he's not such a bad guy to be around.

"Hey, I'm just saying… Actually I forgot what I was saying so scratch that. So, Aunt Marissa or whatever this continually freaky marriage makes you to me in terms of the law, Ryan and I are being forced to endure my new grandmother for una noche, so I guess we will be seeing you tonight." He grinned again and bit into his sandwich oddly happy, even with the prospect of being trapped in the Cooper-Nichol home.

Marissa seemed to be thinking along the same lines as I was, and said amusedly, "Why do you sound so excited about coming tonight? You and Ryan don't have anything better to do with each other?" Cohen stopped mid-chew and Marissa grinned at the reaction.

We've talked about it a thousand times, about the way that they might as well get it over with. They've never come out and said anything, but it's crazy obvious.

Never mind crazy obvious… It's almost painful. And I have a plan to get everyone off the edge of their seats and onto the playing field, all in order to put this whole Seth/Ryan obliviousness crap to rest. All I need is a trustworthy ally.

I only hope it ends up being worth it.

* * *

_Zack_

I opened my mouth, closed it, and opened it again. I tried to speak, but the only sound I could manage was a miserable:

"Bleh…"

Luke stared at me, apparently waiting for an answer, so I tried to put it in comprehensible English this time around.

"You want to WHAT!"

Much better. Although now he looks ready to punch my lights out… Maybe that wasn't the best way to put it.

"Hey, do you WANT to be going back and forth between two moping lovebirds that make your head ache, or do you want to do something about it?"

_**You know what? Let's rewind for a second, shall we? **_

I had been innocently reading in the library when Luke came up to me and sat down, saying he needed to talk, it was about Seth and Ryan. I put my book in my bag and steered him out onto the terrace, where we would be better equipped to talk about this.

So he says, flat out:

"I need your help to get them together."

I kind of stared at him like he was crazy for a bit, and he rolled his eyes at me, telling me just how obvious it is and if I didn't notice, well, what the hell?

I told him I was simply in a state of shock over the blatant statement he made to someone he barely knows, and he just shrugged.

"Desperate times man, desperate times."

So, I told him JUST how much I knew, and he seemed surprised at the details that I contributed.

"Well, then I'm glad I approached you of all people. You say you're the only one they've told…"

I told him, yeah, that I know of.

"OK, then you gotta be the one to help me."

Then, he launches into a whole big, very Cohen-esque ramble, out of which I am able to decipher the following:

"So I was thinking when I was driving up here, and don't go thinkin' I'm crazy or gay or anything like that, because if you do I'll totally kick your ass, but anyways, um yeah, I was thinking that uh, since we all know, and as in all I mean ALL as in like Summer, Marissa, Mr. n' Mrs. Cohen, hell even Caleb n' Julie… You know what, never mind that. Anyways, I was thinkin' that I could maybe uh well, uh, maybe I could umm… maybeIcouldhelpCohenmakeChinojealousbybeingwithhimbutnotREALLYbeingwithhim."

And that's how we got to "Bleh…" And that's how we got where we are now.

"_Of course _I want to get them to admit it, but do you really want to put yourself in the line of fire, dude? I know for a fact you've seen the damage that kid can do. That, and I know for near fact that Cohen would never go through with that."

"But oh-you-see that is the thing, dear Padawan. Know Seth Cohen as well as you think, maybe you do not."

Both Luke and Zach turned startled to the voice coming from the top of the stone steps, where Seth was currently looking quite interested in our little exchange.

"What're you guys talking about?" Cohen asked, a confused yet amused looking lining his face.

I glanced at Luke, only to see his face burning bright red in embarrassment, before muttering an excuse to leave quickly. Whether it was a ploy to pique Seth's interest at what was going on, or if it was in mere embarrassment at the intrusion, I don't want to know.

"Hey Seth…"

"Zaaaach… what's goin' on man?"

"Oh uh… just getting to know Luke a bit. Nothing major."

All Seth did was stare straight at me and nod his head slowly… "Uh-huh. Sure. Okay, I'll believe you. Or at least act like I do, since I totally don't."

I sighed and smiled sheepishly, not REALLY knowing what to say. How was I supposed to respond when the only truthful way to answer would be "Well, the guy who went around calling you fag and queer for the majority of your life has decided that he is going to pretend to date you so you can make Ryan insanely jealous. Like I said, noooothing major."

Yeah, THAT'S gonna happen.

* * *

Ugh. Don't even ask… I've had this tiny bit written for a long time. With the lack of Seth/Ryan stories these days, I've been doubting anyone would read this. So let's just see shall we? 

Reviewers are my homeboys/girls. Any that do get a cookie and an imaginary life-size version of the O.C.-boy of your choice.


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